Centurion, Day 3, Tea
Sunday, November 25, 2001

I asked the great Erapalli Prasanna to give me his views on Harbhajan Singh after he had played havoc with the Australians at home with 32 wickets in three Tests.

Prasanna responded: "Find out how many times Harbhajan has got the batsmen bowled."

And when I did check the figures, I found out that not one of his 32 victims was bowled. In fact, of the 68 wickets he has scalped so far, only seven have been bowled. And therein lies a tale.

This is due to the fact that Harbhajan places undue emphasis on getting his wickets caught at short leg or silly point. He has to realise that there are other ways for a spinner to get wickets. He has to appreciate that the fielders at short extra cover, mid-off, and mid-on are all catching men for him. This is something that has to be drilled into the talented Harbhajan who is still young and quite capable of learning. The senior players in the team need to talk to him and tell him to explore other options as he has consistently showed that he is not quick to experiment, preferring to play the waiting game.

Anil Kumble is pegging away diligently though he realises that he just does not have the same rhythm that makes him so successful on home pitches. So I don't have too many complaints against Kumble, who is out of form and doing his best to regain his lost touch. Of the two spinners, I would give more marks to Kumble.

A heartening thing about Kumble is that he has started bowling the flippers, indicating that his shoulder might be recovering more quickly than we imagined.

Venkatesh Prasad probably realised that this was a final opportunity to make an impression. As things stand, he looks unlikely to be picked for the Mohali Test against England. So he was giving his best, and bowled that much faster, but unfortunately it was not good enough.

Shaun Pollock provided the kind of flourish that South Africa needed at this stage. He has a copybook style of playing and has the ability to hit the ball nicely. And because his technique is reasonably sound, he could become a better batsman in years to come as the toil of fast-bowling begins to tell on him.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting in the late '80s and early '90s, was talking to H Natarajan.

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